Holiday Fun Archives - Page 3 of 4

Pumpkin Carving Galore

By Christina Lee| October 29th, 2016|Craft Day, Holiday Fun, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Oh My Crafts!|

It must of been in high school or grammar school when I last carved a pumpkin, so I might be a little rusty. In fact, I think I might need a lesson or two from the kids who seem to be pros at picking out their pumpkins, coming up with a design and digging right in. With over ten kids in the house at a pumpkin per kid, I’d say we have quite a lot of work to do. But with a cup of sangria/fungria, anything is possible this Saturday afternoon.

Miss Kendall was nice enough to let me partner with her. We got our stencil, pumpkin-carving tools, a bowl and some clean hands. She dove right in and carved off the stem like a pro, while I stood to the side with my sleeve up ready to take her cue. Since she did such a good job with hers, she was in high demand with all the other kids to help them remove their stems. I continued to gut the pumpkin and separate the seeds, so we can roast them in the oven later for a tasty treat. Afterwards, she came back to create an imprint of the stencil by poking a series of holes to align with the ghost design. Since we gutted the pumpkin to its core, it made it a lot easier to puncture because the walls weren’t as thick. The kids considered that the fun part.

It took us into the early evening to finish and by nightfall. We ended up with ghosts, black cats, witches, bats and classic jacks. Wow, pumpkin carving is a lot of work. Thank goodness for the kids. Now it’s time to admire all the hard work and sweat, and top them off with a tea candle.

Lights on, lights off. Here is our pumpkin line up for the evening. Hope you have a Happy Halloween!

Mother’s Day Tote from Cooper

By Christina Lee| May 8th, 2016|Holiday Fun, Oh My Crafts!, Scrapbooking|

Mother’s Day was extra special this year due to this unexpected surprise from my very own, Cooper Crazy Lee (aka Susanna). Since we’re all trying to go ‘green,’ my sister decided that carrying a tote featuring photos of us or the family might not be as appealing as carrying a tote of our four-legged, furry canine friend. I’m going to have to agree with her on this one and since neither one of us has kids (yet), she made a ‘Cooper photo bag’ for me and my mom (aka ‘Grandma’) and I absolutely LOVE it!!

Susanna went ahead and cherry-picked out a few photos of Cooper during his most photogenic moments. Well, when is he not photogenic?! The three to the left (from top to bottom) include a photo of Cooper on New Year’s Day wearing his 2016 shades, another one of him at the Berkeley Rose Garden and another one of him on his sixth birthday ready to blow out the candle on his ‘doggy’ cupcakes. And to the right is Cooper on his scavenger hunt for the Superbowl 50 sign over by the Marina. Cooper’s been on quite a few adventures and I’m more than grateful to now ‘carry him around’ and have him with me on the go.

Thanks so much Susanna and Cooper for the lovely tote!

Merry Christmas from the Lee Family

By Christina Lee| December 25th, 2015|Handmade, Holiday Fun, Oh My Crafts!|

My cousin walked through the door and asked, “What games will we be playing this year?” My sister and I were absolutely thrilled that games were a big hit from last year – so thrilled that we’re doing it again this year prior to dinner and presents so that everybody can and will participate.

The first game was wrapping a box with a partner of your choice. Each pair was given the same materials: scissors, wrapping paper, a box, tape and a ribbon. The only requirements were to wrap a Christmas present using one hand of yours and one hand of your partner’s. And the team to wrap their box the fastest and make it the most presentable wins. My parents were one team, while my cousins paired with their significant others and my aunts paired with each other. When we gave them the green light, the teams went at it. Across the board, you can probably see the women taking the lead, doing the cutting and taping while the men were good at taking direction. You can also notice that hands sometimes got a little twisted as they led over verbal communications. There was a lot of energy and tension to get this small box wrapped. Sometimes you even saw four hands to a box over two. My parents were taking the lead. There was no surprise there, since my Dad started telling the story that he’d been with my Mom for over forty years and you just sort of ‘pick up’ on these things. In the very end, it looks like the years of experience and partnership triumphed as my Mom and Dad won the competition. They got crowned Mickey ears and Santa hats along with some sweet treats. Congratulations, Mom and Dad!

For the second game of the evening we decided to bring back the gingerbread making houses – an all time favorite. Instead of teaming up to build larger gingerbread houses, we each got our own mini gingerbread house. Assorted gum drops, m&ms, confetti and icing were available to dress each person’s house to their liking, that’s if they can even put together the foundation of the house. After a few attempts at the icing, my hands were sticky and white. The walls could barely hold the roof, which could barely hold the candy. Yikes, mine looked like a snowstorm hit San Francisco. Clifton filled his house with candied windows along with his initials on the rooftop. Bernice made cute little snowmen, xmas trees and a dog. My Aunt Julie couldn’t help but try to copy my cousin in putting together the base of the house, where my Mom was concerned with decorating the rooftop. Jeffrey got his hand all muddied up in icing, while Laura seemed to have the magic touch to making the house look homey. In the end it was unanimous and Laura took home the trophy for the best looking gingerbread house in town. A concession prize went to my Aunt who didn’t even get her house to stand. What a fun evening that was and you still have Clifton in the background claiming he too is deserving of a prize – any prize.

What a fun evening of games. I think we all worked up an appetite. Now onto to dinner, presents and more festivities. I hope your Christmas is just as exciting, warm and eventful as ours.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from the Lee Family!

Xmas Eve Home Cooking

By Christina Lee| December 24th, 2015|Holiday Fun, In the Kitchen|

It’s always a question that’s top of mind especially during the holiday season. What dishes are people already bringing and what should I cook for the holidays? I usually go with with the fancy appetizers and my famous brussel sprouts with caramelized onions, pancetta, slivered almonds and white wine sauce (I already did this during Thanksgiving), but I’m compelled to try something different this time around. I peaked online to see if I could get any inspiration and then I spent a good amount of time over the weekend at a couple of grocery stores – the lines were insane. I wanted to make something hearty, meaty, flavorful and easy on the eyes. For some reason, I was still craving turkey, but had to remind myself to move past that one since that was last month!

Top of mind next to all the active orders for chicken, prime rib and pork shoulder was the cornish game hen that stood in the self-serve refrigerated section. I bypassed the line and picked up these babies. I landed on four cornish game hens, since I had to make x2 the amount – one for Mom’s side of the family and one for Dad’s side. They were a good portion size given that the table itself would already be filled with a variety of dishes.

I may have made these once a long while ago, but I was most excited, since it reminded of a mini turkey. I went ahead and sauteed the carrots and onions with rosemary, thyme and a drizzle of white wine. They simmered on the stove for about 15-20 minutes. I didn’t want to overcook them since they’d be stewing some more in the oven.

Next, I buttered up the cornish game hens and seasoned them similarly to the vegetables. After the vegetables cooled, I stuffed them from the front and the back, then topped them with lemon slices. About an hour in the oven leaves you with them slightly brown and sizzling. This is now ready for dinner party number one. I’ll be tackling this again tomorrow!

Letting the Chef Retire

By Christina Lee| November 26th, 2015|Holiday Fun, In the Kitchen|

As far back as I could remember, my Dad has always been the one to cook and prepare the turkey for our Thanksgiving feast. It’d start with days of preparation from picking out the turkey to buying all the ingredients to doing hours of prep work in advance to making his traditional Chinese sausage sticky rice the night before. Every Thanksgiving morning, my Dad would wake me and my sister up at 8:30 am sharp. He’d pull the drapes open and tell us to quickly wash up. Each minute of delay was another extra minute the turkey would have to spend in the oven. There in the center of the table was the 18 lb turkey and two bowls of sticky rice — one bowl was for us to stuff the front and back of the turkey, and the other bowl was for us to stuff our own bellies. My sister and I would see compete to see how much sticky rice we can hold in our palms before shoving it into the turkey. For the turkey to get a share of the sticky rice, we deemed that one lucky bird. Within good time, we were stuffed and most importantly, the turkey was stuffed and ready for the oven. This is one of the Thanksgiving rituals I cherish and love. Thank you, Dad for all the hours, days and years you spent making the turkey for Thanksgiving and creating this wonderful tradition for our family. We both tip our hats to the Chef in thanks as you gracefully retire from being the Cook.

While Susanna and I won’t be able to wear the chef hat just yet, we thought we’d make sure our cooked turkey have a friend or two. With a little inspiration from Pinterest, and a lot of vegetables and chopping, we present our Turkey Vegetable Platter.

And just in case the vegetable platter needed a friend, we made these Oreo cookie Turkeys using Reeses, Whoppers, chocolate sauce and piping. Now how fun is that?! If this can’t get you to say “Gobble, Gobble,” then I don’t know what can. Happy Thanksgiving from the Lee Family!

Second Annual Oyster Fiesta

By Christina Lee| June 13th, 2015|Holiday Fun, In the Kitchen|

Bought by the dozen, our Second Annual Oyster Fiesta consisted of an assortment of Pacific, Kumamoto and Atlantic Oysters. Some of us became pro-oyster shuckers and mastered the art of shucking an oyster, while others (such as myself) stood to the side and cheered them on. With no shortage of fixings and dipping sauces, we all enjoyed a generous helping of fresh, raw oysters. My favorite happened to be the Kumamotos – small, sweet and nutty.

Once we had our fill of raw oysters, it was time to fire up the grill and cook those meaty Pacific oysters. My friend, Steph had the BEST recipe to dress up these oysters. She filled them sweet garlic, bourbon butter that was nothing short of perfection. It was a lovely afternoon indeed.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

By Christina Lee| December 25th, 2014|Handmade, Holiday Fun, Oh My Crafts!|

All too soon, Christmas is here! This year, I’m making a batch of candied pecan yams and brussel sprouts with prosciutto and white wine sauce. Part of the fun with staying in the kitchen is sipping on a glass of wine, while also doing a bit of tastings before all the guests arrive.

This year’s warm Christmas Day is joined by two of my sister’s friends and of course, the family. With Christmas music in the background, a fireplace in the making and a glass of raspberry champs in hand, I think the family’s ready for a healthy competition of building gingerbread houses. I kid you not, it’s a lot easier than it looks.

Each team had varying tactics. While others were set on designing the house, my dad stuck to building the foundation and making the house stand – even if it did take the entire tube of icing. Hands completely sticky and iced, confetti dots and gumballs stuck to his sleeves than on the roof, he was done in a matter of 20 minutes and left the house for my mom to design. In the meantime, my cousin Clifton was all about details in designing the exterior. He carefully squeezed the icing and aligned all the gum drops and licorice around each side of the house. WIthout testing it, he later realized the side of the house where he added a window and a door was really the rooftop. On the other hand, my aunt and I were all about designing the house partially and then moving on to the foundation. WIth a few collapsed houses and falling candy, we finally got it to stick. Our friends on the other side of the table stayed away from the classic design of windows, doors and garages, and instead branded it with their names. Clever.

When it came down to voting, Ricky and Zenaida were our two winners and each got Santa hats and reindeer antlers to wear for the evening – all in good fun.

Hope you too had a wonderful Christmas!

Santa Mail

By Christina Lee| December 19th, 2014|Holiday Fun, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Oh My Crafts!, Scrapbooking|

Part of getting into the holiday spirit involves writing Christmas cards and saying hello to a few good friends that I might not have caught up with throughout the year. And lucky for us, our family trip to Orlando, FL made the front cover of each of the cards. Topped with a warm greeting, poinsettia stamp and gold seal, these cards are ready for a trip to the North Pole and back.

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